Series: Columns

September 22, 2012

Christian Standard

The Culture of Celebrity Pastors

By Brian Mavis Joel Osteen, Rob Bell, Francis Chan, John Piper, T.D. Jakes, Rick Warren, Bill Hybels, Billy Graham, Dwight L. Moody, Charles Spurgeon, George Whitefield, John Wesley, John Calvin, Martin Luther, Augustine, Origen, Polycarp. Celebrity pastors are nothing new. So what”s new and what”s next? Putting ourselves first is as old as day one (I mean, day six). The difference today is that the ability to reach the fruit, feed that temptation, and be applauded for it has never been easier. Just consider these low-hanging branches: YouTube, MySpace, iTunes, iMac, iPod, iPad, and iPhone. “I, me, mine . .

September 20, 2012

Christian Standard

Older? Younger? Both Are Good!

By Mark A. Taylor Throughout my ministry at Standard Publishing, I”ve been involved in discussions about how we can reach a younger audience. So it”s no surprise that our decision to move CHRISTIAN STANDARD to a monthly publication from a weekly included our desire to attract younger readers. Our thought was that our new 68-page monthly magazine, about the size and weight of an average issue of Time magazine, would look and feel like other publications many are reading. Regular readers were committed to our 16-page weekly, but most potential readers weren”t buying anything else like it. Not all possible

September 18, 2012

Christian Standard

Have a Good Trip . . . I Mean, Meeting!

By James Riley Estep Jr. My family and I enjoy taking trips. We”ve become rather good at preparing for the trip, traveling together, having fun, and capturing the memories. Trips and travel are a lot like meetings. In fact, meetings could learn a lot from family trips. Perhaps most important to consider is this: who”s driving? Elders” meetings are typically driven by the chairman. His role is to oversee and administrate every aspect of the journey, from preparation to the return to the real world in which we serve. Meetings have one driver, the chairman.   Where Are We Going?

September 15, 2012

Michael C. Mack

Facilitate so Your Group can Participate

By Michael C. Mack Question: Last year, I struggled to get my group involved in discussion, serving together, or doing much of anything else outside meeting times. As we restart our group this fall, what advice would you give me as a leader to help my group participate more? Answer: Great question! Here are 10 ideas from my experience to help get your group more involved.   1. Plan. Before getting started, decide on some plans and goals for the group for this fall and beyond. People want a purpose for being together, a sense that the group is striving

September 14, 2012

Christian Standard

Shakespeare, Steve, Science, and Scripture

By LeRoy Lawson   Shakespeare: The World as Stage Bill Bryson New York: HarperCollins, 2007 (Audible.com version)  Steve Jobs Walter Isaacson New York: Simon and Schuster, 2011 The Language of Science and Faith: Straight Answers to Genuine Questions Karl W. Giberson and Francis S. Collins Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2011 It”s been a long time since I had the fun of introducing high school and college students to a lifelong fascination of mine: William Shakespeare, beyond dispute the greatest poet in the English language and among the handful of greatest poets in the world. Well, maybe not beyond dispute. The

September 13, 2012

Christian Standard

Learning to Change

By Mark A. Taylor  Last week I found an e-mail in my inbox from a fellow who didn”t like the verbiage on the cover of CHRISTIAN STANDARD”s May 20 issue. “Learning to Change” was the headline. It led to the lead article about medium-size churches: “Facing the Challenge of Change.” Throughout my ministry I”ve been advocating for change. After all, isn”t that what spiritual growth is? But this dear gentleman was upset by our praise of change. After a long rehearsal of his conversion and decision to go to Bible college in the late 1940s and a litany of his

September 6, 2012

Christian Standard

Sad Good-byes, Fruitful Labor

By Mark A. Taylor Two weeks ago we heard the sad news that a member of our church, a dynamic, active physician, died. Remarkably, he had survived a brain aneurysm two weeks before that, but ultimately his system broke down, along with his family”s hope for his recovery. His funeral was Sunday, August 23; he would have turned 63 August 28. We were sharing this story with a couple who told us a mutual friend”s husband, age 57, had just been diagnosed with Stage Four esophageal cancer. Their kids were coming to visit while they waited to hear treatment options

September 4, 2012

Christian Standard

The Whole in Our Gospel

By Tim Harlow The slogan I”m repeating these days: We”re called to bring Heaven to earth and take earth to Heaven. How well are we doing both? I took my dad to the World Series in Detroit in 2006. The Tigers were playing our beloved St. Louis Cardinals (we are lifelong Cardinal fans), and we had connections, so we went. I had never been to Tiger Stadium, so I relied on MapQuest to guide us there. We arrived at a stadium, but it looked pretty old and run down; the lights weren”t on, and there were no cars in the

September 3, 2012

Christian Standard

A Call to 40 Days of Prayer

By Staff Dave Butts, founder of Harvest Prayer Ministries (Terre Haute, IN) and chairman of America”s National Prayer Committee, has set up www.40daysofprayer.net to provide information, prayer guides, and links to ministries sponsoring prayer efforts for the 40 days leading up to this year”s elections. The ministry writes, “The challenge is not to pray for a specific candidate, but simply to have 24/7 prayer for our nation during that time. We are beyond political solutions for our nation, but we are desperate for God”s intervention. We are challenging people to pray God”s purposes for our nation, revival in the church, and

September 3, 2012

Christian Standard

Cooking with Poo Book Turning Heads Worldwide

By Jennifer Johnson It”s the attention-getting title of a new cookbook that”s received international attention””and helped Saiyuud “Chompoo” Diwong create a new life for herself and her family in the Klong Toey slum of Bangkok. Poo began by offering cooking classes as part of a microenterprise initiative led by Ash and Anji Barker, directors of Urban Neighbors of Hope (UNOH), which partnered with Christian Missionary Fellowship (Indianapolis, IN) earlier this year. The Barkers and two other families live in the Bangkok, Thailand, slums and lead community centers, a Christian school, the Helping Hands microenterprise program, and more. Other UNOH teams live among the

September 1, 2012

Christian Standard

Both Approaches Can Be Successful

By Jennifer Johnson I like Matthew Barnett“s philosophy of serving: “Find a need and fill it.” For Barnett, founder of The Dream Center in Los Angeles, the motto has worked well. Since its launch in 1994, the center has served millions of poor, addicted, homeless, and broken people. Thousands of volunteers lead ministries ranging from residential rehab to “Adopt-A-Block” teams in 35 locations across the city. I also like their story: Pastor Matthew”s outreach to the gangs surrounding the church”s iconic building, the organic growth of ministries developed by members, and its identity as “the church that never sleeps.” But

September 1, 2012

Christian Standard

Cincinnati Church Starts Free Medical Clinic

By Jennifer Taylor When physician Doug Collins returned to the United States after several years as a missionary in Cambodia, he wanted to open a free medical clinic similar to the one he led overseas. LifeSpring Christian Church (Cincinnati, OH), which supported Dr. Collins and his family as missionaries, worked with him to open the new clinic this past July. Potential patients must be 19 to 64 years old, have no health insurance, and have a yearly income no greater than 200 percent of the Federal Poverty Level ($22,000 for an individual or $44,000 for a family of four). “The

August 30, 2012

Christian Standard

Arizona Church Hosts Services at Local Prison

By Jennifer Taylor Dozens of prisoners, many of them sex offenders, are members at Chandler (AZ) Christian Church. Several times a year, volunteers from the church take a portable baptistery to a local prison and baptize 25 to 35 men each time. “We consider them part of our church and the congregation celebrates every quarter when we report back,” says Matt Meyers, pastor of changing ministries. The baptisms are the fruit of a years-long effort to minister to the inmates in a local prison. Every Friday night a team of volunteers brings worship music, Communion, and a message to more

August 29, 2012

Christian Standard

Surprise!

By Eddie Lowen On my 30th birthday, a sweet woman from the church I served interrupted the close of the worship service. She walked up the center aisle holding a large birthday cake decorated with my name in icing. Everyone sang “Happy Birthday.” It was a very kind gesture and, looking back, it was a harmless moment, perhaps even helpful. At the time, however, I didn”t like it. Why? I don”t like surprises””especially during the worship service! Since that birthday surprise, I”ve learned that minimizing surprises is feasible, but eliminating surprises is impossible. When you throw hundreds (or thousands) of

August 28, 2012

Christian Standard

Painful Truth with Overwhelming Love

By Mark A. Taylor More than once in recent years, Christian Standard has advocated for compassion toward homosexuals. Most recently we published Mark Moore”s plea1 that those with same-sex attraction need not identify themselves as “gay” and the church should not ostracize them. Last year we reprinted Ben Cachiaras”s advice2 to his church when the issue of same-sex marriage was before the Maryland state legislature. In a piece filled with calls for sensitivity toward gay couples, he wrote, “We must be extra careful about how we discuss this so we don”t give any reasons for Christians to be misunderstood as uncaring or

August 28, 2012

Christian Standard

Church”s Reading Club Prepares Way for VBS

By Jennifer Johnson New Burlington Church of Christ (Cincinnati, OH) is very small””only 50 or 60 people gather for worship each Sunday. But this little church is making a big impact on its community. In June the church launched its Promise Island Reading Club for children entering kindergarten through third grade. Each Thursday morning for six weeks volunteers led activities, tutored children one-on-one, read stories, and provided snacks. The team also built a children”s library for the new program, with more than 100 books bought secondhand or donated, and gave each child a new book bag in which to carry

August 28, 2012

Michael C. Mack

What”s the Point of Your Small Group?

By Michael C. Mack Why does your small group exist?  What”s your purpose? What are your goals? Bill Willits, director of group life at North Point Community Church, Alpharetta, Georgia, tells what happened when that church first began meeting in the convention center in Atlanta. The electronic marquee that thousands of people would see every day advertised the church as “No Point Church.” The sign engineer could not fit the entire name on the marquee, so he took some creative liberties. Of course, Willits says, this became the joke of the night, but it also provided Andy Stanley an opportunity

August 27, 2012

Christian Standard

How to Obey a Simple Command

By Mark A. Taylor Over lunch with a visiting missionary friend, we spoke of the latest alerts she and her team had received from the U.S. State Department. Her particular region was not threatened””yet. But the possibility for terrorist activity was coming closer. The waitress tended to us carefully (“More water?” “Everything taste OK?”) while our guest spoke of her contingency plans in case of an emergency evacuation. Hiding places among local natives, secret rendezvous sites, and options in case the closest airport was compromised””these were the details she shared while we savored the restaurant”s service. I couldn”t help but

August 24, 2012

Christian Standard

Church Becomes Part of City’s Arts Community

By Jennifer Taylor New City Church (Phoenix, AZ) launched the New City Studio to participate in the area”s “First Friday” art walks, host small gatherings, and serve the local urban community. The studio, originally a historic home built in the 1920s, has hosted exhibits about filmmaking, fashion photography, vintage clothing, and more. A “Shopping with Purpose” night featured handmade jewelry, bags, and quilts. Often the studio encourages donations for a specific cause or local nonprofit group related to each month’s exhibit. This past spring, when Good Friday was also a first Friday of the month, the studio hosted an exhibit

August 21, 2012

Christian Standard

Ten Ways You Can Strengthen Campus Ministry

By Mark A. Taylor Every year we publish a directory of campus ministries like the one in this issue. Every year we include stories of dynamic, life-changing influence provided by these ministries. And every year I learn something new about outreach to young people forgotten or ignored by too many local churches. Obviously, many Christian churches and churches of Christ care about taking Christ to college students. Could we do more? Look at my list, and decide for yourself. 1. Choose a ministry. From our directory, find a campus ministry either (a) close to your local church, (b) on the

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